The Azzi Fudd Conundrum

[RockyMTblue2]

Talk about Azzi's talent but injury prone:

 

[Centerstream]

Who is this reporting?

 

[MilfordHusky]

That's Hamilton Neill, a UConn WBB guru.

 

[The deacon]

A lot of hyperbole, wishful thinking and overstatement...

 

[southofnorth]

This seems like it was stating the obvious. Every player is limited by health status and it’s been brought up ad nauseam for the past two years that UConn is a title contender IF they can get/stay healthy.

Other than that, debating whether Paige or Azzi is more important than the other is a useless argument since it’s highly subjective (neither has won a championship while only one is playing and the stats aren’t really conclusive on the matter either).

 

[Cuango]

A lot of hyperbole, wishful thinking and overstatement...

Though stating the obvious, as South… said, I found his assessment to be quite on point. Surely it is true that with her healthy and on the floor we are a much more dangerous team and one of the favorites (assuming everyone else is healthy) for next season’s title? The one thing I would quibble with is his contention that she is the best shooter. She is a great shooter but in my mind anyway, the jury is still out between her and Paige.

 

[LarryLegend]

seems like a legitimate question to ask is whether or not to recruit players that have significant injury histories before they ever reach your program. Granted Fudd was a fantastic prospect, and maybe she wont miss a game for the next 2 years, but the trend is otherwise

 

[Rowdy831]

I might change my strength coach, or maybe rework my practices but NO way would I decide to recruit lesser talent in the hopes that they would be healthy while the great ones get hurt. Injuries are part of sports and too many players have one injury early on and never have another one to suggest passing on them.

UCONN has healthy enough players and talented enough players to win this year. LSU has one star player and a bunch of rag tags that came together and won as a team. Difference this year was LSU made the plays when they needed them and UCONN didn't. No coach in American would take LSU talent this year over what UCONN had available at the end. They might have developed a second option just incase Edwards got in foul trouble but that is another discussion for another day.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I might change my strength coach, or maybe rework my practices but NO way would I decide to recruit lesser talent in the hopes that they would be healthy while the great ones get hurt. Injuries are part of sports and too many players have one injury early on and never have another one to suggest passing on them.

UCONN has healthy enough players and talented enough players to win this year. LSU has one star player and a bunch of rag tags that came together and won as a team. Difference this year was LSU made the plays when they needed them and UCONN didn't. No coach in American would take LSU talent this year over what UCONN had available at the end. They might have developed a second option just incase Edwards got in foul trouble but that is another discussion for another day.

LSU talent got to a hoist a trophy. UConn talent got to watch it on TV. Would coaches in America pick the talent that wins or the talent that watches other teams win on TV?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

This seems like it was stating the obvious. Every player is limited by health status and it’s been brought up ad nauseam for the past two years that UConn is a title contender IF they can get/stay healthy.

Other than that, debating whether Paige or Azzi is more important than the other is a useless argument since it’s highly subjective (neither has won a championship while only one is playing and the stats aren’t really conclusive on the matter either).

Yeah, but we are a highly subjective bunch. We thrive on it, particularly in the off season.

 

[Longtime fan]

Talk about Azzi's talent but injury prone:

Clearly, she has been injury prone. Whether that is predictive or not, who knows? Even when she has been relatively fit and healthy, she has not been the best shooter on the court in many games. Often, she has to go 1-5 before she finds her stroke. Few have ever seen Caitlin Clark do that. So we remain hopeful, but have to recognize hat Azzi is what she is; a fine basketball player but not a god.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Clearly, she has been injury prone. Whether that is predictive or not, who knows? Even when she has been relatively fit and healthy, she has not been the best shooter on the court in many games. Often, she has to go 1-5 before she finds her stroke. Few have ever seen Caitlin Clark do that. So we remain hopeful, but have to recognize hat Azzi is what she is; a fine basketball player but not a god.

You do know Caitlin Clark shot 38% from 3 this year and 33% last year. Azzi shot 43% from three last year and 34% this year which includes her injury recovery which hurt her percentages. This is a silly comment that doesn't reflect reality.

 

[HopJim]

LSU talent got to a hoist a trophy. UConn talent got to watch it on TV. Would coaches in America pick the talent that wins or the talent that watches other teams win on TV?

Similar to the Shonie Schimmel/Louisville versus Britney Greiner/Baylor game, sometimes there is a 1 in a 100 (or 1000) game where everything comes together. You have to give LSU credit for making it happen, but not sure you would follow their process for the future.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Similar to the Shonie Schimmel/Louisville versus Britney Greiner/Baylor game, sometimes there is a 1 in a 100 (or 1000) game where everything comes together. You have to give LSU credit for making it happen, but not sure you would follow their process for the future.

They were the best team in the country last season and proved it on the court as it should be. Not sure what their process was, but given that it brought home a national championship trophy, I'd say it was effective. UConn's process hasn't produced a national championship in almost a decade despite having a near monopoly on the top recruits coming out of high school.

 

[JellyBean]

Clearly, she has been injury prone. Whether that is predictive or not, who knows? Even when she has been relatively fit and healthy, she has not been the best shooter on the court in many games. Often, she has to go 1-5 before she finds her stroke. Few have ever seen Caitlin Clark do that. So we remain hopeful, but have to recognize hat Azzi is what she is; a fine basketball player but not a god.

Whoa. That is totally unfair on both ends, especially with the comparison to Caitlin. For one, Caitlin and Azzi are both great shooters but are asked to play in totally different types of systems and their shots will not be the same. Many of the games, men's and women's, best shooters will start off 1-5 or 0-10, before they find their groove. The key being, they don't lose their confidence and they believe the next one is going in. Secondly, Azzi is one of our best shooters on the floor. That is why Coach Auriemma is always wanting Azzi to get touches. Either off a screen or in transition.

 

[Zinethar]

So now 7 years is "almost a decade"? Most other teams in the country would love to have a NCAA championship once every decade.

 

[hoopsfan22]

So now 7 years is "almost a decade"? Most other teams in the country would love to have a NCAA championship once every decade.

8 since we're onto the 2023-24 season now.

 

[JellyBean]

They were the best team in the country last season and proved it on the court as it should be. Not sure what their process was, but given that it brought home a national championship trophy, I'd say it was effective. UConn's process hasn't produced a national championship in almost a decade despite having a near monopoly on the top recruits coming out of high school.

LSU won the title but were they really the best team last season? That is always going to be the debate. As for UConn not winning anything in nearly a decade. The fact that they have been in the Final Four for a decade plus, speaks volumes about the program and their success rate. Some programs never make it to the Final Four. Some programs might get to sniff a Final Four every other year. Some programs go decades between making it to the Final Four and they get a "monopoly" of talent and recruits. UConn made it to 14 straight Final Fours.

 

[UConnCat]

Clearly, she has been injury prone. Whether that is predictive or not, who knows? Even when she has been relatively fit and healthy, she has not been the best shooter on the court in many games. Often, she has to go 1-5 before she finds her stroke. Few have ever seen Caitlin Clark do that. So we remain hopeful, but have to recognize hat Azzi is what she is; a fine basketball player but not a god.

What are you talking about? As a freshman Azzi had the best 3-FG% on the team. When healthy early this past season -- before the ND game -- she was the best 3-pt shooter on the team (43%).

Sure, we've never seen Clark miss many 3-pointers even though she shot 33% as a sophomore.

Azzi's biggest issue is health. She needs to remain healthy for a full season. Paige too. She hasn't played a full season since her freshman year. Remarkably, Azzi and Paige have played a total of 15 games together.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

LSU won the title but were they really the best team last season? That is always going to be the debate. As for UConn not winning anything in nearly a decade. The fact that they have been in the Final Four for a decade plus, speaks volumes about the program and their success rate. Some programs never make it to the Final Four. Some programs might get to sniff a Final Four every other year. Some programs go decades between making it to the Final Four and they get a "monopoly" of talent and recruits. UConn made it to 14 straight Final Fours.

Yea LSU wasn't the best team in the country last year, revisionist history to say or imply so. They didn't win their conference regular season or tournament title for crying out loud.

 

[Zarathustra]

LSU won the title but were they really the best team last season? That is always going to be the debate. As for UConn not winning anything in nearly a decade. The fact that they have been in the Final Four for a decade plus, speaks volumes about the program and their success rate. Some programs never make it to the Final Four. Some programs might get to sniff a Final Four every other year. Some programs go decades between making it to the Final Four and they get a "monopoly" of talent and recruits. UConn made it to 14 straight Final Fours.

It UTAH had taken down LSU, and they could have ( oh, those missed free throws! ) then Iowa ( maybe )
beats Utah. Was LSU the best team last season... well... they won.... but it comes down to the bounce
of the ball, sometimes the refs, and then, as it happened, a phenomenal 3 point shooting percentage!
Since this is a thread on AZZI.... Azzi and her teammates will make it happen in 2023 - 2024.

 

[Alydar]

LSU talent got to a hoist a trophy. UConn talent got to watch it on TV. Would coaches in America pick the talent that wins or the talent that watches other teams win on TV?

I doubt any coach would base his decision on a single-elimination tournament.

 

[Charliebball]

Clearly, she has been injury prone. Whether that is predictive or not, who knows? Even when she has been relatively fit and healthy, she has not been the best shooter on the court in many games. Often, she has to go 1-5 before she finds her stroke. Few have ever seen Caitlin Clark do that. So we remain hopeful, but have to recognize hat Azzi is what she is; a fine basketball player but not a god.

When healthy Azzi is a more accurate shooter than Clark who's really more of a volume shooter............Clark's a great player but lacks discipline in her shooting decisions which is something she will have to clean up at the next level............what she doesn't lack is aggressiveness and confidence the two areas where Azzi needs improvement........Clark also plays a lot of minutes and rarely gets hurt and there's a lot to be said for that.....

 

[DEpup]

The data shows she is injury prone... For me, that means you have to recruit including portal like she isn't part of the team. Then whatever she does give is icing on the cake. I just don't think it would be logical for the coaching staff to have a strategic planning meeting and say well Azzi is good to start all the games and give us 30+ min in big games so what do we have to recruit for around that... it just wouldn't pass the smell test.

 

[BRS24]

The data shows she is injury prone... For me, that means you have to recruit including portal like she isn't part of the team. Then whatever she does give is icing on the cake. I just don't think it would be logical for the coaching staff to have a strategic planning meeting and say well Azzi is good to start all the games and give us 30+ min in big games so what do we have to recruit for around that... it just wouldn't pass the smell test.

Meh. If someone hadn't bumped into her leg at two different points in the season, we might not be having a discussion about whether she's injury prone. For the first incident, she was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.